We are big pizza fans around my house and usually make it once a week. Generally I do a traditional thin-crust pizza on a pizza stone and call it a day, but thanks to Garfield the cat, my kids recently became obsessed with stuffed crust pizza. I know it’s a recipe that’s popular on the Pizza Hut menu, so I decided to do some research and make my own healthier, fake-out stuffed crust pizza recipe at home. Turns out, it’s crazy easy to make deep-dish stuffed crust pizza, and it’s super delicious. The kids loved helping me stuff the crust and, truth be told, making it in a cast iron pan is way less messy than flouring up my counter top and rolling out my thin-crust dough. This may very well be our new go-to pizza recipe. Win for mama! The kids approved, and I hope Garfield would too!

Pizza Hut Fake-Out: Stuffed Crust Pizza

Surprise! The kick is in the crust in this awesome dupe recipe.

By Christina Stanley

Published: March 9, 2015

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

olive oil: 1 tablespoon

store-bought pizza dough: 1, rested

pizza sauce (homemade or store-bought): 1 cup

mozzarella cheese: 1 8-ounce block, half of it shredded and the other half cut into ½-inch sticks

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2: Rub a well-seasoned 9-inch cast iron skillet with olive oil, making sure to spread oil up the sides as well.

Step 3: Press pizza dough out until it fills the entire skillet.

Step 4: Place slices of mozzarella around the edge of the pizza. Fold dough over the cheese and press to seal.

Step 5: Place sauce and cheese on the pizza and bake for 15-18 minutes. Cheese will be brown and bubbly. Enjoy!

Christina Stanley-Salerno is a recipe developer, food stylist, photographer and blogger at TakeBackYourTable.com. She has an intense passion for the family meal and as a work-at-home mother of two growing boys, knows first-hand the challenges of trying to get a meal on the table. Before going freelance, she was on-staff at Every Day with Rachael Ray where she had the pleasure of working alongside some of the best in the food business. She is now a full-time work at home mom, writing recipes for everyone from Momtastic to Parents.com. Creating simple, quick and healthy meals is her specialty and her trick to keeping the family meal a reality, even on busy weeknights.